Covalent modification of protein by drugs may disrupt self-tolerance, leading to lymphocyte activation. Until now, determination of the threshold required for this process has not been possible. Therefore, we performed quantitative mass spectrometric analyses to define the epitopes formed in tolerant and hypersensitive patients taking the β-lactam antibiotic piperacillin and the threshold required for T cell activation. A hydrolyzed piperacillin hapten was detected on four lysine residues of human serum albumin (HSA) isolated from tolerant patients. The level of modified Lys541 ranged from 2.6 to 4.8%. Analysis of plasma from hypersensitive patients revealed the same pattern and levels of modification 1–10 d after the commencement of therapy. Piperacillin-responsive skin-homing CD4+ clones expressing an array of Vβ receptors were activated in a dose-, time-, and processing-dependent manner; analysis of incubation medium revealed that 2.6% of Lys541 in HSA was modified when T cells were activated. Piperacillin–HSA conjugates that had levels and epitopes identical to those detected in patients were shown to selectively stimulate additional CD4+ clones, which expressed a more restricted Vβ repertoire. To conclude, the levels of piperacillin–HSA modification that activated T cells are equivalent to the ones formed in hypersensitive and tolerant patients, which indicates that threshold levels of drug Ag are formed in all patients. Thus, the propensity to develop hypersensitivity is dependent on other factors, such as the presence of T cells within an individual’s repertoire that can be activated with the β-lactam hapten and/or an imbalance in immune regulation.
In this paper, a numerical model for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis is developed for investigating the aeroelastic response of a single wind turbine blade. The Blade Element Momentum (BEM) theory was adopted to calculate the aerodynamic forces considering the effects of wind shear and tower shadow. The wind turbine blade was modeled as a rotating cantilever beam discretized using Finite Element Method (FEM) to analyze the deformation and vibration of the blade. The aeroelastic response of the blade was obtained by coupling these aerodynamic and structural models using a coupled BEM-FEM program written in MATLAB. The governing FSI equations of motion are iteratively calculated at each time step, through exchanging data between
... Show MoreThis study aimed to confirm the presence of RSV using real-time PCR in nasal
and throat swabs which had no visible cytopathic effect in tissue culture technique
from adults of moderate-to-severe pneumonia with influenza-like illness. Results of
real-time RT-PCR found that viral RNA in 11.63% (5/43) of adult with pneumonia
and flu-like illness symptoms. A significant incidence of RSV infection in Dec. and
Jan. 2014 was appeared among patients aged more than 45 years. The results
showed that viral load significantly associated with disease severity. In conclusion,
multiplex RT-PCR is recommended to diagnose RSV and influenza viruses in
winter season in older patients with pneumonia and can decrease sever illness in
<p>Analyzing X-rays and computed tomography-scan (CT scan) images using a convolutional neural network (CNN) method is a very interesting subject, especially after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this paper, a study is made on 423 patients’ CT scan images from Al-Kadhimiya (Madenat Al Emammain Al Kadhmain) hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, to diagnose if they have COVID or not using CNN. The total data being tested has 15000 CT-scan images chosen in a specific way to give a correct diagnosis. The activation function used in this research is the wavelet function, which differs from CNN activation functions. The convolutional wavelet neural network (CWNN) model proposed in this paper is compared with regular convol
... Show MoreThe quality of groundwater in the Al-Hawija area was assessed using a water quality index. Data of nine physico-chemical parameters of 28 groundwater wells were used to calculate the water quality index (WQI). A heterogeneous water quality was reported, where in close proximity to the Lesser Zab River (LZR), it has low WQI values and permissible for human consumptions due to the dilution processes by fresh water; whereas, it becomes deteriorated in areas located far away the river. The values of WQI ranges from 22 to 336, indicating a good to very poor groundwater quality.
This paper presents thermal characteristics analysis of a modified Closed Wet Cooling Tower (CWCT) based on heat and mass transfer principles to improve the performance of this tower in Iraq. A prototype of CWCT optimized by added packing was designed, manufactured and tested for cooling capacity of 9 kW. Experiments are conducted to explore the effects of various operational and conformational parameters on the thermal performance. In the test section, spray water temperature and both dry bulb temperature and relative humidity of the air measured at intermediate points of the heat exchanger and packing. Heat exchangers consist of four rows and eight columns for an inline tubes arrangement and six rows and five columns f
... Show MoreIn this reserch Some new substituted and unsubstituted poly imides compounds. were synthesized by reaction of acrylol chloride with different amides (aliphatic and aromatic) in a suitable solvent in the presence amount triethyl amine (Et3N) with heating. The Structure confirmation of all polymers were confirmed using FT-IR,1H-NMR,13C-NMR and UV spectroscopy. Thermal analysis (TG) for some polymers showed their thermal stabilities. Other physical properties including softening points, melting point and solubility of the polymers were also measured
Objectives: To find out the effect of l-hydroxyphenazine (1-HP) on viability of T-lymphocytes and the reflects of this
effect on experimental hyadatidosis on hydatid cyst protoscoleces infectivity in vivo.
Methodology: Four groups of white male /ه/mice were experimentally infected with four concentrations of (1-HP)
with challenge dose of 2000 protoscoleces /1 ml with negative (9.8.5) and positive (P.H.A) control groups.
Results: It has been found that the higher concentrations (75,100) 1101/111 of the (1-HP) causes significant
decrement in the lymphocytes viability in comparison with negative and positive control groups. (060.01).
Recommendations: The study recommended using concentrations lower than 25 pmole Iml which
In this research, deposition of titanium oxide (TiO2) and vanadium oxide (V2O5) thin film in different mixing percentage (0, 25 ,50, 75 and100)% on the substrate of glass .The coating thickness was ( 50 nm ).
In this research contact angle was measured and the effect of weather conditions. Results showed that the value of the contact angle of the prepared films reached its highest value at 50% (TiO2+V2O5) was 160º.
The results showed that the optical transmittance of TiO2 and V2O5 thin film decrease with increasing the deposition angle and decrease with increasing V2O5 pro
... Show More